Deep Down Below
by SopranoLaetisia
Summary: A young dancer in the Opera Populaire finds truth in all the stories of the 'Opera Ghost'.Disclaimer I own nothing
1. Prologue

Deep Down Below

E/OW Story-

Author's Note- Okay, I've been obsessing over Phantom FanFics for awhile, so, naturally, I've decided to take a stab at writing one. Please don't chop my head off if it's not great. I'm really not that bad a writer (In fact, I have been named the best in my school, but that was mostly for poetry) but this is my first fanfic. If you hate it, also keep in mind that I originally write in Hashaari, and have translate everything to English, which can be the cause of my writings sucking. Still, I ask you to check it out.

Also, don't kill me if dates/ages don't line up exactly. I have dramatic silence, and this is a fanfic so it doesn't have to be exact.

Lastly, I have never taken ballet before, so please don't hang me for any incorrect ballet references.

After the prologue, the entirety of the story will be told as a flashback (except if I decide to return to the prologue's time at the end, and then it will be announced).

Disclaimer- I own nothing. No characters (though I did come up with Evelia, I don't even know), no songs, nothing. I am just a loser like that.

Prologue- Deep Down Below

The Paris Opera House bathes in the sun of a cloudless day in late April. All around the Opera House, people hustle and bustle in the square. All the people seem to be busy, but not one person is in a sour mood. Everyone seems to be smiling and stopping to chat at any given opportunity. Everyone, that is, except one young woman. She keeps her sea-green eyes to the ground and walks quickly towards the Opera House, avoiding any potential human contact outside of the invisible bubble surrounding her. She is a young woman, probably 20 years of age, but reserved and mature in character. She is dressed in a lovely black dress, which matches her jet-black curls which fall down to her lower back. There is something more to this young woman, for, as you can see, she is withchild (maybe around five months). What is her name, you ask? She is called Evelia Leticia Chaillé.

The young woman walks quickly with a parcel in her hand, until she reaches the great wood doors of the opera house. She quickly glances back to make sure nobody is following her, and then swings open the heavy doors and disappears into the opera house.

"It's Sunday" She thinks. "Most of the actors will be out on such a sunny day, the stagehands will be as well unless they are backstage working, Andre and Firmin will be chatting up in their office about how marvelous the production shall be and how great they are, and Madame Giry will be...uhmm...well, not here. Wait, where IS Madame Giry on such a day? I never see her on days like this. No rehearsals or anything like that, but I doubt she goes out anywhere..." Evelia ponders this for a moment before coming to her senses "Oh, no matter. At least nobody will see me and follow me." and with that, she glances around the lobby to make sure nobody is in sight, and takes off down the more unused passages of the opera house. Hall after hall, passage after passage, Evelia hurries through parts of the opera house that people haven't set foot in in years. Even the managers of the opera house would get lost on this route! But Evelia knows what she is doing, going down, down, turning and snaking until she comes to a little, old closet that hasn't been used for many years. She feels for a small chain around her neck, and quickly removes it. attached to the chain is a small, rusty key which she inserts into the keyhole and turns the knob on the closet door. She has to push the door rather hard, but eventually it budges open to reveal the inside of the small closet. Against her will, she lets out a small cough in response to the dust and cobwebs that litter the little closet. It is cluttered with old footlights, posters of productions that were staged decades ago, and other such things. Evelia makes her way through the junk until she comes to another door, a smaller one, on the other side of the closet. You can hardly tell it's there, as it is so well-hidden! Evelia pushes the small door open, and squeezes through. Though she is naturally thin, it is much harder for her to squeeze through now that she is pregnant. "A few more months and I will have to go another way to get down there." Fortunately, when that does happen in a few months, Evelia probably won't have much of a problem finding another route. This is because shockingly, this was only one of the many ways to get to where she was going. Still, she preferred this way because it was going this way that she would be least likely to be caught. Evelia steps out of the small door and closes it behind her. The nice, open air on the other side of the door is a nice change from the stuffy, dust-filled air of the closet. It is amazing; Evelia stands at the top of a winding flight of stone stairs that leads down into a dark, dank whoknowswhere. she smiles at the lack of light and eerie feel of this place, and the faint sound of an organ being played.

Deep down beneath the opera house, a man in a black cloak sits at an organ and plays a dark and haunting tune. Every few bars, he stops for a moment to scribble madly down on a piece of paper beside him. Then he glances up and smiles at a sight you would never expect to see in this dark, layer-like dwelling- _children_. The man in the cloak watches the two children for a moment, forgetting his masterpiece-to-be. One of the children is a boy, a few months over the age of four. The other child is a little girl, about one year younger than her brother. The children wear cloth eye patches and wave pretend swords (which are actually nothing but air), as they are playing a game of 'pirates'. "I'll have you walk the plank!" exclaims the boy in a joking, false pirate voice. The little girl giggles and says back "You wahkka pank, Kiewan!" (Meaning 'You walk the plank, Kieran!', as the child can't pronounce her 'r's yet) and at that, they do a pretend sword fight, until the little girl trips and falls down onto her bottom. She scrunches up her face and starts to cry, even though the fall didn't seem extremely bad/painful. The man in the cloak father rushes over and scoops up the crying child into his arms. A white porcelain mask conceals most of the right half of his face, but the children do not pay that any mind. In fact, they've never seen their father without the mask.

"Octavia, Octavia," He says in a patient, kind voice "My poor little one, did you fall?" The little girl gives her father a teary nod. The masked man then begins to sing a soft, soothing melody, and the child stops crying. She listens, almost entranced, as her father sings one of her favorite songs about some little girl by the name of Lotte. The man's low voice is surprisingly good, better even than many of the singers far above in the Opera House. The girl listens intently to her father, even though she has heard the song a thousand times.

Suddenly, the little boy named Kieran shouts "Mommy!" and points to Evelia, who is now across the room, now at the foot of the staircase.

"Mommy!" The little girl exclaims with a grin. You'd think that, by the children's reactions, they haven't seen their mother in years, though in reality it was only a few hours ago when she left.

"You're back" says the masked man with a small smile.

"I'm sorry it took me awhile to find the sheet music, but I have it!" Evelia places the parcel in her hand down on the organ in the corner.

"Mommy I'm hungry!" Says little Octavia. And with that, her father hands the child to her mother, who walks over to a corner and sits down with the child in her arms. Evelia undoes the top half of her clothing, revealing her full, round breasts. Little Octavia immediately latches on to her mother's left breast and starts to suck. As the three-year-old nurses, her mother sings to her a dark, soft lullaby in a foreign tongue. Evelia's soprano voice is hauntingly beautiful as it floats around her. Little Kieran looks over at his sister while she nurses and can't help feeling a bit jealous. He was just weaned from the breast recently (at the age of 4 years 2 months), but not quite used to eating all "big boy food". His father quickly notices this and takes the little boy into his arms

"How about we go get you something to eat? And then maybe I'll tell you a story?" the little boy immediately cheers up and nods his head. He loves when his father tells him stories of the opera house. No stories of murder and such things, of course, but of hilarious sights of a past-her-prime soprano who strutted, screeched, and complained constantly. He tells his son stories about "The time I almost got caught" or "Did I tell you the one about the croaking soprano?", and Kieran always listens starry-eyed, soaking up every word.

As Kieran listens to his father's story (this time a new one as he cleverly improvises), Evelia sits in the corner, nursing the adorable little girl in her arms as she sings to her. Evelia's song is soft and a bit eerie, and it floats all the way to the winding stone staircase, and over to the corner in which the old organ sits on the other side of the lair-like dwelling. The melody soothes the little girl as she nurses, and seems to reach out and caress the hard, stone walls. However, those walls seem to ring out with another inaudible tune, unfamiliar to both the mother and the child. It seems that the song that had long since been trapped within those walls, to, just sometimes, haunt the father of the two small children.

_Track down this murderer,_

_He must be found!  
Hunt out this animal,_

_Who runs to ground!  
Too long he's preyed on us,_

_But now we know, _

_The phantom of the opera is there_

_Deep down below_.


	2. Chapter 1

"Turn out, Audra, turn out! From the hips, you silly girl!" "Cerise, your tendu is sickled!" A woman's voice rings throughout the ballet studio. The woman looks to be in her 50's, and her long, graying dark hair is swept into a braided bun atop her head. She carries a wooden staff as she walks across the studio, making sure every foot is properly position and every stomach held in. A barre runs across the walls of the studio, and about 15 dancers are spread out at the barre as they warm up. Sunlight streams through the window of a ballet studio in the Paris Opera house as the girls go from position to position, exercise to exercise.

"Alright girls, in the centre please!" with these words, the girls assemble in the centre of the room for more excursuses. Madame Giry's orders of "Pull in your stomach!" and "Eyes, girl, watch your eyes!" ring throughout the studio, and most of the dancers had been used to hearing them since they were little girls training. One black-haired dancer, however, had only been training with the Paris Opera Ballet Chorus for a week, so sometimes when Madame Giry would shout a correction unexpectedly, she found it hard not to jump as she was so startled! Madame Giry noticed this and scolded her "Keep your mind on the dance, Miss Evelia, and maybe you will not be so startled!" The other girls giggled and Evelia's pale white face gained a rose color as she blushed in embarrassment. None of her dance classes in previous places had ever been this challenging, and she was always on her toes (yes, literally, but no pun intended).

"Grand jetes, please"

The girls quickly got into rows of four for grand jetes. Evelia made sure to get in the back row, so she could watch all the other girls and make mental notes so hopefully she wouldn't do so terribly.

"First row, please!"

And the first row of girls grand-jeted across the floor, but they didn't get one inch without Madame Giry's voice calling out "Jessamine, you're a dancer, not a zombie! And you, Audra, concentrate!"

"Second row!"

One by one the rows flew across the floor, and Evelia got more nervous with every passing second.

"I will be awful." She thought "Oh Lord, I really don't need another reason for the others to ridicule me!"

"Last row please!"

In that moment, Evelia panicked and forgot everything, Her mind went blank, so all she could do was do the grand jete and pray for luck...but she had just barely landed when Madame Giry cried out "Evelia Leticia!"

"Oh no, _Madame_ using my middle name?" Thought Evelia "I must have been awful! I will be kicked out of the chorus for sure..."

"Miss Evelia," Madame Giry interrupted her thoughts as Evelia hung her head and got ready to bolt for the door "That was _flawless_!"

Evelia was instantly jerked out of her lamentation. "Excuse me," she thought "but did she just call my dancing _flawless_!"

Madame went on "That, young lady, is solo material! And during your first week here!"

Evelia was shocked and elated. She didn't honestly believe this was happening. She hadn't been dancing here for long, but she did know that Madame saved her compliments for only the best performances. Evelia didn't think her dancing was bad before, but when she arrived here, the way the other girls looked at her certainly did NOT make her gain confidence! But she had just done better than all of them! Evelia picked her head up and looked around the room at the other girls. They were not smiling at Evelia, but rather giving her death glares as sour as an unripe lemon. All, that is, except for one other dancer who simply looked away. Evelia recognized that dancer as Meg, Madame Giry's daughter. All but Meg were giving Evelia piercing, cold looks, but Evelia wasn't surprised because that's what they'd been doing ever since she arrived! But Evelia didn't care. She was used to and happy with isolation...sometimes...and now she was too happy to even notice the other girls! She was beaming all through the rest of practice, which seemed to make her dance even better. She was completely focused, and she was completely immersed in the dance for the entire time. Well...almost. Once she swore she heard something in the corner of the room behind the curtain that separated one half of the studio from another (the curtain was pushed aside when there was a large class and more practice space was needed). There was a small noise, and she sensed that somebody was there...but them came her favorite part of the dance and she became lost in her little ballet world once again.


	3. Chapter 2

Erik was having a day you would describe as completely...blah. He wanted to go work on a piece he was composing, but the great flow of inspiration he had a few days ago when he started composing had tapered off to a tiny drizzle. He decided he would wait until a day he had more inspiration. But until then, there was only one thing to do.

Erik would go watch the ballet practices only when he had absolutely_ nothing _better to do, and had no inspiration for composing, drawing, or writing anything. truly, the practices were rather depressing! he thought that Madame Giry was a_ wonderful_ teacher, but some of the ballet girls were so thick with self-love that they'd never realize exactly how much they needed to improve!

When he watched some of the girls, he pitied poor Madame more than anyone in the world. Still, he had nothing better to do whatsoever, so he went down to the dark and empty half of the ballet studio. Making sure to be silent (a skill he'd long since gotten down to a science), he looked through the curtain to the other side where practice was being held. He scanned the room with his eyes, looking for _something _interesting. He made mental notes as he did this, which was just a habit of his.

"Jessamine's having turnout problems, as always" He thought as he studied the dancers "If she would just _get over herself_ and realize that she really DOES need much improvement, maybe she wouldn't be so awful!"

Erik had seen so many rehearsals that, though he never actually took a class in his life, he could probably perform a pas de deux as well as one of the male dancers who'd been dancing since they could walk!

"Lets see about Miss Adeline..." He continued his habitual mental note-taking. "My GOD, can that girl concentrate at all! She's off beat completely! Well, at least Piera isn't having the same problem today. Roslin, on the other hand-" Just then something caught his attention. One dancer was actually doing exceptionally _well_! He looked to see who the dancer was, but could not recognize her. Surely she hadn't been dancing at the Opera House for more than a week or so!

"That's odd," Erik thought "A new dancer? Madame Giry doesn't usually take dancers into the chorus that haven't been studying with her for years!" He continued to watch this black-haired dancer. "Well, I suppose I can see why she made an exception for her." He watched her, thinking it was too good to be true. She had to have_ some_ flaws, he was sure of it. Well, as he watched, he could find only one main flaw. "She's very graceful, and clearly she dances with her soul, but it doesn't seem like she dances with ALL of her soul. She needs more soul, more emotion to achieve perfection." He noted this against her, but he could see that at least she was clearly the best dancer of the chorus (though Madame Giry's daughter Meg wasn't bad either). Then he had a thought. Erik could help that dancer put more soul into her dancing, which would make her stand out even more. He could take her in, help her improve, make her a star in the Opera House!

..No. He would not start on that trail again, that trail that lead him to only suffering. He took one last look at the dancer and reasoned with himself "She's just a chorus girl, and probably just having a good day. She is nobody." Then as he took one last glance at her, he could not help noticing that she was rather pretty...but he quickly pushed that thought from his head. He decided to work on composing his piece even though he was rather uninspired.


	4. Chapter 3

After ballet practice, Evelia and the other dancers thanked Madame and went out into the hall to gather their things. She sat down on the floor alone while the other girls whispered about her as they removed their pointe shoes. Just then, Meg, the blonde dancer who hadn't joined the others, walked over to Evelia and sat down "You did a wonderful job in class today" Meg said quietly as she untied the ribbons on her pointe shoes "How long have you been dancing?"

"Oh, since I was a little girl" Evelia replied "I think I was about 7 years old, so that makes it over 7 years I've been dancing. What about you?"

"My mother stared me dancing when I was three years old" Meg replied quietly.

"Three! Well, no wonder you're so good!"

"Not as good as you are." Meg blurted out Evelia was about to disagree, but just then, Meg broke the awkward silence "Do you like it here?"

"Oh, well, yes, it's wonderful! You're mother is an amazing teacher, but…"

"It's the other girls, isn't it?"

Evelia nodded "Why do they hate me?"

"Don't mind them, I guess it's just jealousy. They've been dancing here as long as I have, and they're just used to the way things are. On the rare occasions when mother takes a new dancer in, they LOVE to look down on her and criticize her and such. But now you're here, and you're better than all of them, so they realize that they can't do much to you! It really irritates them when they're not on top. They only leave me alone because my mother's the teacher."

Evelia said "I see...well, are you friends with them then?"

"Not really. They may leave me alone for the most part, but really they don't like me. They think that since my mother's the teacher, she's easier on me and makes my dancing sound better than it is."

"That's ridiculous! It's so obvious you're better than them without any extra help! It looks like Madame is even HARDER on you, In fact. But that's understandable, since she IS your mother. Well, those girls are just making stupid excuses for the fact that you're better than they are."

"I only am because my mother works me so hard. Whenever she sees me looking even slightly bored or not busy, she tells me to practice. But I'm so used to it, I guess I don't mind."

The girls talked as they walked down to the ballet girl's dormitories. Each one of them was to get a good night's sleep, as they had their first full cast rehearsal in the morning.


	5. Chapter 4

Fluffy chapter

The next morning-

"WHY 'AVENT YOU FINISH YET?" Carlotta's cry echoed through the opera house as she stormed onstage. Babette and Ghislaine (the women who made the costumes for the Paris Opera productions) were deserving of deep pity that morning, as they were to face another of Carlotta's outbursts.

"First you make my dress too long, then you make it too tight, and now you not finished fixing it!" Carlotta went on, ranting, raving, and complaining, and Meg and Evelia knew that this would stall rehearsal for at least another 10 or 15 minutes. Silently, they started Mocking Carlotta with exasperated gestures and motions. It took all of their strength to keep from bursting out laughing. Carlotta, though busy fuming, eventually saw the girls mocking her out of the corner of her eye. Shocked and appalled, she paused in med-sentence and turned to the girls "Are you MOCKING me!"

Meg tried to hide her smile, but failed as she said "Oh no, Miss Giudicelli!" "You're lying! I saw you! You and 'er!" she pointed furiously at Evelia "Mocking me! You silly little ballet girls 'oo should bow and scrape before me were MOCKING ME! Firmin, Andre, do you _believe_ this!" Carlotta got more and more furious with every sentence "Well I will NOT stand for zees! I will not! Goodbye, Paris Opera, I am leaving! Goodbye stupid costumers 'oo can't get anything right, goodbye stupid managers, and _goodbye silly little dancing girls!_" The now screaming, red-faced Carlotta stormed off, leaving everyone else speechless for a moment. Then Firmin spoke as he looked at Meg and Evelia.

"Did you really HAVE to do that? Now I have to go grovel at her knees again, do you think that is _enjoyable_?" And he hurried off to find Carlotta.

Messier. Andre stood with a face as red as a tomato "Oh, _wonderful_! We're here with a show fast approaching, and things are going fine until THIS happens! Do you have ANY idea how hard it was to get her back LAST time? And even then she wasn't nearly as angry as she was just now! I wouldn't be surprised if she leaves for good this time! So what are we to do, eh?"

There was silence, then Madame Giry said softly and calmly "We must go on with the scene. The girls _need_ to rehearse the ballet in the middle of the scene."

"And the sailors need to rehearse their entrance that comes before the ballet!" Another actor chimed in.

"Well, that's Carlotta's song! All of it! And SHE is not here to sing it, is she!" Fumed Andre

"Well we must do _something_!"

"I know," Said Andre, still furious. He pointed to Meg and Evelia "_You two_. YOU got us into this, and _you_ will pay the price. You will sing the aria in Miss Giudicelli's place."

"But we're ballet girls! We don't sing!" Meg protested

"Well I suppose that's your problem! You'll just have to humiliate yourselves in front of all of us by doing a terrible job!" Andre smirked as he said this.

"Messier, get a hold of yourself! This is ridiculous! And besides, Meg missed the last two rehearsals due to an injury and really needs to practice."

"Fine then!" Andre said, still quite angry "SHE can dance. But _you," _He pointed an angry finger at Evelia "YOU will sing, no matter how bad you sound!"

"But messier-" Madame Giry started

"No Buts!" Andre cut her off "The girl will sing!"

Slowly, Evelia came up to the front of the stage. She was terrified, but at least she knew the song. She quite liked it actually, but she would have never wished for this! She'd never practiced it before, why would she! What if she forgot the words, or if her voice broke? She wasn't warmed up, after all. Evelia did like to sing, but she had never sung in front of people before in her life! For all she knew, her voice was one thousand times worse than even Carlotta! So many thoughts buzzed frantically in her head, but all she could was nod her head for the piano's soft introduction to begin, and then start to sing. For the first few measures before she started to sing, she felt the heat of everyone's eyes as they watched her and petrified her with their cold stares. But as she started to sing, her fear slowly melted away as she sank into the world of the character. This made it much easier for her to sing, and she made no mistakes. It was a beautiful song about a lost love, so there was so much soul and emotion to put into it! As the song progressed, she put more and more of her soul into the song, and Evelia's lovely soprano voice floated to touch every wall of the opera house. About halfway through the song, Evelia noticed out of the corner of her eye that the ballet girls were not dancing. This puzzled her, but she went on. Slowly, the song's end approached, and Evelia remembered that the last note of the song was the F above high C. She did not know if she could hit such a high note, let alone not warmed up! She had never examined her rage before, and had no clue if it included a high F. What if she couldn't hit the note? How humiliating that would be! Just the thought of such humiliation chilled her but once more, she could do nothing but go on with the song. Evelia sang into the dramatic conclusion of the song, took a breath, and soared up to the high F. Astonished, Evelia realized that she wasn't screeching as Carlotta did, but instead had little trouble hitting the note. She held it out for a while, and then cut off. She was very pleased that she didn't make any big mistakes, but still fearful of what everyone else thought. As she turned with a racing heart to face everyone else on stage, she was met with loud cheering. Evelia looked around, shocked to see that everyone had gathered around to watch her sing! The cooks, the stagehands, the costumers, and Messier Andre. Every face bore a wide-eyed expression, and Meg and Madame Giry beamed. Shouts of "Bravissima!" rang out, drowning out Messier Andre as he whispered to himself in disbelief "But she's a ballet girl! I thought she couldn't sing...none of the ballet girls sing that well!" as he was as shocked as everyone was by Evelia's beautiful voice. Evelia felt warmth in her soul as everyone cheered; she knew she had done well.

Just then, Carlotta stormed in, down the isle past the rows of velvet-covered seats. Messier Firmin trailed quickly behind. "So you think you can replace me, eh? Well sorry little dancing girl, but I'm back! You can just go back to your little dance studio and your toe shoes and leave the singing to the _real _singers!" Then there was silence for a moment, until Andre spoke.

"Alright then, from the top of the scene if you please!"


	6. Chapter 5

Erik was hard at work composing his piece. His inspiration was back in full force, and he was almost finished when he heard something. It was faint, and he wasn't sure if he was actually hearing something or if it was just in his head, but it sounded like a woman's voice. It was so quiet and distant, but it was beautiful. This lovely soprano voice reminded him of another voice he'd been desperately trying to forget, so he tried to shut it out. Try as he might, he could not ignore this beautiful voice no matter how hard he tried to push it away. Curiosity got the better of him and he got up to see where the voice was coming from. As he made his way through dark passages of the opera house, it sounded like the voice was coming from the stage. When he got there, however, and watched from the flies above the stage, nobody was singing, or at least not anymore. There was only Carlotta babbling on about not being replaced by a ballet girl.


	7. Chapter 6

When they got back from the rehearsal, Evelia and Meg were exhausted. Rehearsal had gone on hours longer than expected once again, and, once again, it had been because of Carlotta. Nobody within Carlotta's earshot even dared to speak of Evelia's stunning performance, but backstage Meg whispered pride-filled words to her friend, and Madame Giry gave Evelia her rare, beaming smile. But the rehearsal after that had been tiring, as every few lines had to be stopped and run through again several times. Meg and Evelia were very thankful to be heading to bed, but Evelia stopped her friend outside the ballet dormitories. She turned to Meg and spoke

"Meg, I saw when I was singing that none of the ballet girls were dancing. Why? Was I going too fast?"

"Well, no, not at all. We were all just kind of watching you."

"Me! Why?"

"Well, you rather shocked everybody. Nobody expected you to be a singer! I'm sure the other ballet girls were just waiting for you to fail so they could give you hell about it!"

"But I'm NOT a singer! I have never had a lesson, this is the first time I have ever even sung in front of people! I mean, I sing when I am alone, but that's a completely different thing! When you're up there, you can feel everybody watching you. It's like their eyes stab you with knives right in the pit of your stomach. It's so scary for me, because I'm just not a singer!"

"Don't be foolish! You're amazing! Much better than Carlotta! And it's perfectly normal to feel that way. I once had a good friend who was a singer- she started out in the ballet chorus just like you- in fact, I believe you are even better than she was! And that is saying something, to be better than C-" Suddenly Meg stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"Than who?" Evelia was too curious to let this slide.

"...No one." Meg didn't know what to say.

"No, tell me! Come on, Meg!"

"Alright, alright." Meg sighed. She knew she had to tell her friend about this eventually. "But please promise never to speak of it again. It has been forbidden to speak of such things in this Opera House."

"I promise."

So Meg told Christine everything. She told her of the skull-sealed notes, she told her of Christine, and she told her of the Phantom of the Opera. When Meg was done, Evelia didn't know what and what not to believe. She knew Christine was real, but she also knew that Christine had been known to be a bit crazy. Evelia was sure that the legendary "disasters" had been just small accidents that had been over-exaggerated for the sake of good gossip (which is always effective in packing the Opera House during performances). Just then, Meg and Evelia heard the footsteps of Madame Giry, who was coming to check on the girls, so they hurried into the dormitories and dove under the covers of their beds.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven part One:

Just hours later-

The large clock in the front foyer of the Opera House struck midnight with loud clangs. At first Evelia found it impossible to sleep through the ringing of the noisy clock at night, but it was a thing every ballet girl eventually got used to, and soon Evelia slept through the clock's loud clangs easily. But tonight, Evelia lay in her bed not quite asleep...but not quite awake either. She was rather entranced, and she suddenly jerked up in her bed, still not really awake. Something seemed to be calling her- a voice, seeming far away and yet clear. She could hear it call to her as she sat upright in her bed. It was a man's voice, strong and smooth, better than that of any man she had heard at the Opera House. The voice sung a song Evelia had never heard before, eerie, haunting, and beckoning. She got up slowly, looking still quite entranced, and went to find the source of this mysterious voice.

Chapter Seven Part Two

Evelia woke the next morning in her bed, which bathed in sunshine that poured through a window. As soon as she gained full consciousness, her mind buzzed with confusions and uncertainties. She faintly remembered some very strange things from that night, and contemplated weather or not it was all just a dream. So strange were the things she recalled- a dressing room, a large mirror...and a white mask in the mirror. She also remembered a voice singing a strange, eerie song. Though everything else was faint in her memory, she remembered the song exactly as she had heard it. Still, everything else was all so faint, and it could have easily just been her mind's recreation of a song she had heard long ago and hadn't remembered...but it didn't_ feel_ like a dream at all. Though faint, it had all felt so very real...but Evelia pushed this out of her mind and convinced herself that it was a dream, and nothing more.


	9. Chapter 8

Later that evening-

Evelia collapsed onto her bed. How is it that Carlotta could prolong rehearsal for _hours_ every day! Would she EVER run out of things to complain and go on about? Evelia was exhausted once again, and her lack of sleep the previous night had certainly not helped things. Her feet hurt from her pointe shoes, but mostly Evelia was just tired. Though it was not very late in the evening, she quickly drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, Evelia awoke. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 11pm. She soon realized that she was extremely thirsty, but the pitcher on the nightstand next to her bed was empty. Groggily, Evelia got up to get some water. As she walked down the dark halls of the Opera House, she sang the song she had heard the other night in her "dream". Obviously she sang it an octave about that the male voice had been singing in, and it sounded eerily beautiful.

_Angel of Music!  
Guide and guardian!  
Grant to me your glory!  
Angel of Music!  
Hide no longer!  
Secret and strange  
angel . . ._

She was turning the corner into another hallway when a sharp slap landed upon Evelia's cheek. She turned around to face Madame Giry, whose face was slightly horrified.

"Where did you learn that song?" Madame Giry's voice was cold and harsh, with a mysterious hint of fear in it.

"Oh, uh, nowhere really, I-"

"_Where did you learn that song!" _Madame wanted an answer, and Evelia wasn't sure what to say.

"I think I heard it in my dream last night. Quite strange, really."

"I see." Madame still seemed uncertain, but she could see that Evelia was telling the truth. "Well there will be _no_ more singing as long as you are under my care. This goes for all of the ballet girls!"

Evelia was surprised. Madame was strict, but she did NOT make unnecessary, overbearing rules! Still, there was no arguing with Madame. Evelia headed back to the ballet dormatories, feeling that she was not thirsty anymore.

The next morning, Evelia told Meg about what had happened that night.

"I know why she did that." Meg said softly, her voice low and serious.

Evelia didn't understand. "Why?"

"Remember what I told you about Christine Daae? The Phantom heard _her_ sing, and that's when he became so in love-or rather, obsessed- with her. My mother heard you sing, and she knows your talent stretches beyond even Christine's. If the Phantom was to hear you...well, of course he's dead now, but mostly just for peace of mind, I'm sure, my mother made the no-singing rule."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Erik sat at the organ, re-living the night before last in his mind

That night, one certain person kept haunting his mind, his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to push those thoughts away. He knew his mind would not rest until he made a sound decision, so he sat contemplating- to do it or not to do it? Deep in the heart he wanted to and he knew it, but he couldn't forget what had happened _last time,_ and he certainly could not afford for that to happen again. He barely survived it that time, and still had to fight with all his soul to forget about what happened. Still, he could not silence the half of him that burned with a desire to do this, and eventually that half of him won out. Getting up, Erik began to sing.

Soon later, Erik found himself on the other side of a large mirror, looking into an old, unoccupied dressing room as he continued to sing. In just moments, the door on the other side of the dressing room creaked open. The figure of a teenage girl, half-entranced, entered the room. Erik smiled a small smile, while the other half of him said to himself "Here we go again, and this _can't_ turn out well..."But just then, so suddenly, the girl fainted. Erik looked, half-shocked, upon the girl now lying on the ground, and he wasn't sure what to do. His trance had apparently overcome her quite easily, and simply became too strong for her. Seeing her lay there made Erik panic a bit. What could he do? To leave the girl lying there would arouse great suspicion, but to bring her back would be risky. Everybody in the Opera House thought he was dead, and he hadn't set a foot outside the mirror since...the "incident". Still, Erik knew he could not just leave the poor girl lying there, so he pushed the glass of the mirror aside and stepped out into the dressing room. Taking the unconscious girl into his arms, he went stealthily down to the ballet dormitories. He tried not to think about the fact that there was a beautiful girl in his arms.

Now, two days later, Erik sat at the old organ again, once more contemplating what to do. He _could_ just abandon the whole matter, and forget about the one talented ballet girl, and it would cost him much less effort. Any recollections of that night could be easily passed off as merely a dream...unless the girl was to tell Madame Giry about the recollections. Madame would understand exactly what was going on, and know that Erik was indeed still alive. He would be hunted down again, and things would become very difficult. Even though it was not certain that the ballet girl would tell Madame Giry or if she even HAD any recollections of that night, there would always be a chance, and Erik's mind would be constantly in panic. He knew he had to follow through with his plan, even with the chance that it might lead him down the same road it did last time.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The big show was fast approaching, and rehearsals were longer and more frequent. Thankfully for the tired cast, this rehearsal was almost over for the night. Evelia waited backstage for her cue to go on and do her solo dance. Andre was backstage too, making sure everybody was on standby who needed to be. Andre hadn't looked at Evelia the same way even once after the singing/Carlotta incident. Sometimes he would simply stare at her in disbelief. Now he was doing just that, and it rather irritated Evelia. She couldn't see WHY it was necessary, and she needed to concentrate and listen for her cue. Soon it came, and Evelia went on to do her solo as the piano's introduction played. She was rather tired, but she forgot about that as she danced. However, the song with her solo had to be run through _over_ and_ over_ (just because a few other ballet girls couldn't seem to pay attention and enter on cue!), so by the time rehearsal was called to a close, Evelia felt ready to drop onto the ground. She and Meg started to walk offstage, but Madame Giry's voice caught them.

"Miss Evelia!" Evelia turned around

"Yes Madame?"

"Can you please run through your solo again? We are thinking of making a few changes to make it a bit longer"

Evelia wanted to groan and collapse on the floor. She loved doing her solo, but she was already exhausted, and she ached all over! Still, she knew she had to dance, so she walked back to the front of the stage and waited for the music to start. She did the best she could while simply trying to stay awake, and Madame managed to change the choreography a bit and add to it. Finally when Evelia was dismissed, her solo was even better, but she was just happy she could go to bed. She said good night to Madame and ducked behind the curtains backstage to head back to the dormatories. As soon as she pushed past the heavy crimson curtain and got backstage, however, she felt something fly down beside her. She looked and saw a letter flutter down to the ground. It looked like the letter had flown down from the flies above, but when she looked up to the rope-and-plank flies, there was nothing and no one there. She picked up the curious letter to inspect it. On the front was written "Evelia Leticia Chaillé" in neat, script handwriting. She carefully turned the letter over and saw that the letter was sealed with a blood-red skull of wax. She quickly stuffed the letter in her tutu and hurried off to the ballet dormatories. When she got there, she sat on her bed and took the mysterious letter in her hand. Holding a candle in her other hand, Evelia carefully opened the letter. She tried to make as little noise as she could, as she didn't want to wake the others. When the letter was opened, Evelia noticed it was written in blood red ink.

Miss Evelia,

It has come to my attention that you are a very talented singer and dancer. I woulod like to help you develop your talent. Meet me tomorrow at sundown in the far end of the ballet studio. Your hair is to be down, and you are to tell nobody of where you are going and why. Likewise, you are to tell nobody about this letter.

OG

"What a peculiar letter!" Evelia thought, as she read each part carefully. "My hair is to be down? What has THAT to do with anything? For rehearsal, all the dancers are to have their hair in a bun!" But this wasn't a big deal. Reading the next part, she thought "Where I am going and why? I barely even KNOW why!"

Evelia wanted to say no and simply not show up simply because the letter was rather rude and demanding. Still, she didn't know who this was and who she was going up against if she was to disobey. She figured that she hadn't much choice, so she decided she would go. Hair down and all.


	12. Should I or Shouldn't I?

----Author's note---

I am not sure weather I should finish this story or not. Though I do have a fairly decent idea of what I would write if I was to go on with it, I don't have a ton of interest left. So I need you to decide. What do you think? Should I continue? Please reply in reviews.


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